Chapter 1
Isabelle P.O.V
"You know next time, you should listen to me and not go to the dance." I tell Mykalah.
"Oh come on. Its homecoming. How could we not go?" She retorts.
"Well for one it ended up getting-"
"Can you two shut up and stop with the pointless banter please?" Tommy shouts, giving us very pointed looks. I start to stare him down, but loud footsteps come in our direction.
"Good going Tommy," I whisper. He gives me the classic 'i-will-so-kill-you-later-very-painfully' look. In return I give him the 'you-go-ahead-and-try' look.
"If you two are done making googly eyes at each other we need to go." Nico tells us. Tommy, Devon, Mykalah, and I nod and pick up our pace so that we're almost jogging.
"Are we almost there?" Devon pants. I guess walking/running in high heels is more tiring than I thought. Good thing I took mine off.
"Shut up Blondie," I say. All she does is complain when things don't go her way.
"Hey! I'm blonde!" Tommy and Mykalah say in usion.
"Whatever," she mutters, and I can practically hear the eye roll.
"Will you stop?! They're getting closer!" Nico hisses at us. Suddenly, a big, dark object jumps into the street in front of us.
"Crap." Tommy mutters.
3 hours previously…
I can't help myself. I start bouncing my right foot as the woman paints my left. ADHD is starting to take hold. I've been in this chair for close to twenty minutes by now and I think I am about to die of boredom.
"Isabelle! Stop. She's almost done," my best friend Mykalah says from the chair next to me. She has always been into this type of thing. I am a polar opposite.
"Can she be done now?" I ask her in a voice that drips with displeasure, although I try to mask it enough so that it doesn't sound disrespectful.
"No," Mykalah says sternly. I lean back in the chair and sulk. I'm in the town boutique (or torture chamber as I like to call it). With its brightly painted walls and surplus of windows, I can see how it might be welcoming to some, but definitely not to me. I feel sick just looking at it. Mykalah had tried to convince me to get hot pink toe nails, but after a lot of fighting I got navy blue. It's the lightest I would go.
"And done! Have a good time girls." The woman doing my nails tells me.
"Thanks Glenda!" Mykalah tells the woman as she pays.
"No problem. Now don't get into too much trouble tonight!" Glenda says with a wink. I smirk and turn to walk out the door. I try to make my way back out of the pathetic excuse of a strip mall but Mykalah pulls me back.
"Oh no you don't. We still have hair." I let out a strangled groan and allow her to drag me away by my wrist. Mykalah drags me to the hair salon located only a few stores down from the nail salon. As we walk in, every face in the salon seems to be familiar; I recognize all of these girls from school. I groan. Of course everyone would be at this exact hair salon. Our town is extremely small and this is probably the only hair salon within a three mile radius. Most of the people here most likely don't even remember I exist. I suppose that is both a blessing and a curse. Mykalah on the other hand is a different story.
"Hey Mykalah come sit over here!" one of the girls with perfect strawberry blonde hair and 'sparkling' blue eyes calls from a bench that must be used by people waiting for a stylist. Her name is Riley if I remember correctly. She has never really talked to me, but then again what's new. Mykalah smiles at me and drags me over to the girl. I roll my eyes.
"Hi Mykalah," She says once we get closer to her. When she sees me, she gets a slightly confused look on her face. "Who's this?" She says and I hold back the urge to yell at her.
"I'm Isabelle. We have four classes together and we've known each other since 6th grade." I say in a tone that screams 'duh!'.
"Oh, oops." She says with a tone that makes it painfully obvious that she does not care. I grit my teeth and give her an equally fake smile. Have I ever mentioned I hate most people?
Mykalah starts to talk to Riley, so I find a bench to sit on. After a few minutes, Mykalah comes and sits next to me.
"Are you okay?" She asks me.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? I don't care about what she thinks of me. She has the iq of a goldfish!" I say with a small smile.
"Well, the look you gave her says something quite different." Mykalah tells me.
"Okay, maybe I do care a little." I mumble under my breath.
"You shouldn't, she is just a little bitchy sometimes." She tells me. I can tell she is trying to make me feel better but it isn't working.
"Or all the time," I say.
"Whatever." I say while looking down at me shoes. After a few girls get their hair done, it's finally Mykalah and I's turn. Wonderful. She gets a side braid that gives her curly blonde hair a nicer look. It is usually kind of frizzy and has blonde wisps. Her hair comes to her shoulders when its not straightened. I get some loose curls added onto my long black hair. The stylist has to work with me even longer because I can't stop fidgeting. Even though I hate this with a passion, we end up looking really nice. We pay and leave the salon. I try again to casually walk out of the mall but once again I am pulled back.
"Time for dresses!" Mykalah squeals.
"Uhh, can I wear jeans?" I ask her in vain, already knowing the answer.
Mykalah gasps. "Of course not!" She then drags me to the nearest dress store. Which happens to be one of three. I really hate living in a small town.
"Fine, but I refuse to wear pink." I tell her with an unwavering tone. She rolls her eyes and sighs dramatically.
"Fine, but I think it would look good on you."
"Mykalah, there is no way I am ever going to wear pink by choice. Ever." I say definitively.
"We'll see." After another eye roll, this time by me, we arrive at the dress shop. A bell rings as Mykalah and I walk in. The store is filled to the brim by dresses of all different sizes and types that have been color coordinated.
"You take the ones on the left and I'll take the ones on the right." Mykalah whispers to me. "Ready, break!" She runs to one of the racks and I'm left standing there utterly confused.
Great. I sigh and then head over to one of the racks on the other side I start hunting for a dress and grab the first one that looks decent and head back to the dressing room. I try the dress on and find that it actually fits me rather nicely. The dress is robin's egg blue and reaches the floor. I walk out of the dressing room and look at my reflection in the nearby mirror.
Mykalah comes up to me and smiles. "That really suits you, Isabelle," she says with an air of approval. "I'm going to try this on." She gestures to her blush pink dress that is about the same length as mine, but with a back that flows from behind. I nod and find a nearby seat to sit on. A few minutes later, she comes out and squeals. "It's perfect, isn't it?!"
I smile, "Yeah, it's pretty." She twirls around in front of the mirror a few times, before going back into the changing room to take it off.
We pay for the dresses and then continue through the mall. I've given up on trying to escape and just go with the flow. Its less dangerous, and I don't really have anywhere better to be. As we walk we happen upon one of the best things to happen to me on this entire shopping spree. Hot Topic!
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" I am almost begging on my knees right now.
"Fine. Just because you put up with my shopping." She says, rolling her eyes in a joking manner. I know that she hates Hot Topic, but I hate just about every single store she has brought me in so far. I deserve to have some enjoyment too.
"Yay!" I say excitedly and I practically run through the doors. I let my hands run over studded belts and cases of gauges. The rock music floods through the speakers and into my ears, leaving me feeling refreshed and ready to do some shopping for myself. I walk over to the earring rack and see a pair of stud earrings that are absolutely amazing.
"Can I see these please?" I ask the nearest employee. The man has about 4 eyebrow piercings and a nose, lip, and tongue piercing. He's wearing a dark t-shirt advertising a punk rock band that I know Mykalah would hate.
"Yeah, okay," he says distractedly and digs around his pocket for the key to the case. Unlocking it, he hands me the pair of earrings, which are more impressive up close. He hands them to me and continues on with his work. I suspect that work may involve a game of some sort. The earrings make my breath catch. They are silver studs and seem to strangly shimmer in the dim lighting of the dark store. I walk up to the check out counter and pay for the earrings.
"Thank you for shopping at Hot Topic. Have a great day." The man from before speaks with a monotone.
"Thanks." I say and I take the back that he hands to me. I walk out of the store and see Mykalah leaning against a pillar looking bored.
"Now you know how I feel." I say smugly.
"Come on, lets go." She tells me. I don't even try and hide my smile.